ICE SKATE BOOT

Abstract

An ice skate boot includes a blade in thermal communication with heat transfer plates that extend into the interior of the boot. The heat transfer plates pass heat from the foot of the skater, through the blade to the blade, thereby warming the blade and cooling the skater's foot. A thermally conductive sock and body suit provide additional heat to the blade and cooling of the skater when in use. A warming mat keeps the blade warm when the skater is off the ice.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority based on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/967,309 filed Sep. 5, 2007 and titled “Blade heater accessory transfer of body heat to ice skate blades,” and on U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/067,184 filed Feb. 25, 2008 and titled “Body heat transfer to skate edge skating system,” the disclosures of both of which are incorporated herein by this reference.

BACKGROUND

This disclosure relates to an improved ice skate boot, and in particular an ice skate boot that uses the body heat of the skater to warm the blade and thereby reduce friction of the blade, as well as assist in cooling the skater's feet.

Common ice skate boots have an elongated blade arranged to slide along the surface of the ice. An ice skate operates off the principle that as the edge of the blade slides over the ice, the friction between the ice and the blade momentarily melts the ice, creating a nearly frictionless contact between the blade and the ice. As the ice skate blade stays on the ice, the blade cools, so the blade does not melt the ice as quickly or as efficiently, leading to an increase in friction between the ice and the blade. As a result, the skater must use more energy to maintain the same speed when skating.

Attempts to minimize the friction between the blade and the ice using a heating element are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,119,921 (Czaja) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,927 (Tvengsberg). Those skate boots would likely be relatively heavy and cumbersome to use. Recently, as discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,735 (Furzer), ice skate boots have been equipped with batteries, the electrical energy from which slightly heats the blade. Battery powered skates can be expensive to manufacture and have increased weight. Also, heating a skate blade with battery power for a significant length of time may require repeated changes of, or recharges to, the batteries.

SUMMARY

This application discloses an ice skate boot having a blade that is heated using body heat from the skater's foot. The ice skate boot is similar to a standard ice skate boot, and in fact a standard skate may be retrofitted to incorporate the heating elements disclosed in this application. The blade is mounted on the bottom of a plastic or metal blade holder that is affixed to, and extends out of, the bottom of the skate boot. The blade includes a bottom, curved, thin, ice-contacting surface to make contact with the ice when the boot is in use.

Inside the boot, one or more thermal transfer plates in thermodynamic contact with the blade extend up and, typically, partially around the foot area of the boot, for instance in a winged shape around the foot. When the boot is in use, these metal plates take body heat from the foot of the skater and pass that heat down through the plates and the blade holder to the blade. As a result, the blade is heated by a few degrees, assisting the blade in melting the ice and creating a thin layer of water between the blade and the ice, reducing friction as a result of hydroplaning. At the same time, the blade draws heat away from the skater's foot, thereby cooling the foot. A layer of synthetic or polycrystalline diamond on the blade may increase transfer of heat better that of steel.

The boot may include two different insulation systems. The skate boot may include an insulating cover over the side surfaces of the thermal transfer plates. This insulation over the thermal transfer plates retains the heat within the plates and prevents heat from escaping inside the blade holder or through the boot. Another insulation system uses a plastic or other cover that is mounted, painted, taped, foamed or otherwise applied or affixed to the thermal transfer plates. That is, when in use, ice and cold water often accumulate on the side of the blade and the blade holder. This ice and water cools the blade, at times to a degree greater than the body heat will overcome. Mounting an insulating cover reduces this cooling effect.

Although typically a foot pad will reduce the heating of the blade and cooling of the skater, many skaters desire at least some padding in the boot. Thus, large breather holes may be formed on padded insoles inside the boot to allow heat to transfer. Adjusting the size of holes in the foot pad permits adjustment of the heat transferred from the foot to the blade.

The result of heating the blade is that the ice below the blade melts slightly faster, and with less need of friction (and thus less effort from the skater). This results in a faster skate startup and enables sharper turning with confidence. Also, heat drawn away from the foot reduces heat buildup in the boot cavity, and thus slightly cools the foot and in turn reduces the general fatigue of the skater.

To increase cooling of the foot, the insulation layer may be omitted. To allow for cooling of the foot alone, the thermal transfer plates may be detached from the blade and placed in selected locations outside the boot or blade holder. The exposed plates use the lower air temperature and a build up of snow and ice around the boot to draw away foot heat. This arrangement may also be used in other sport shoes, including spiked shoes.

To assist in heating the blade, the skater may wear a sock having a woven lattice into which has been formed thermally conductive heat transfer material, such as copper threads or a thin metal plate. Furthermore, the skater may wear a thermally conductive body suit, such as layer of cotton underwear with thin copper threads sewn therein. The body suit and the sock are in thermal contact with the thermal transfer plates, and thus with the blade. As a result, as the sock or body suit collect heat from the skater's body, that heat passes into the blade to continue to cool the blade while the skater skates. Heat collected from the body suit may also be channeled to heat to electricity conversion devices and computer chips to power electrical apparatus such as pulse and heart monitoring devices and other electronic devices such as musical and phone devices.

One activity for which a slightly warmer blade may provide a competitive edge is the sport of hockey. Keeping a skate blade warm when a player is sitting on the bench increases the rate of recharge once the skater gets back on the ice. To that end, an electrically heated mat placed on the floorboards of the bench area keeps the skate blade slightly warmer. The mat has ridges that are warmed by electricity, typically from a wall plug, and the ridges form channels through which the water from melting ice flows away from the skate blades. As a result, when the skater returns to the ice, the skate blade is already a few degrees warmer than ambient, resulting in better movement across the ice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from reference to the following Detailed Description taken in conjunction with the accompanying Drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 depicts a side view of a skate boot and of a thermally conductive sock, both in accordance with embodiments of the present skate boot;

FIG. 2 depicts a top cutaway view of the skate boot of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts a partial side view of the skate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 depicts a perspective view of the skate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 depicts an exploded perspective view of the skate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 depicts a cutaway view of the skate boot of FIG. 1 taken along the line 6-6 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 7 depicts a cutaway view of the skate boot of FIG. 1 taken along the line 7-7 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 8 depicts a cross-sectional front view of a foot shaped heat plate overlayed on thermal transfer plates externally attached to the skate blade in accordance with one embodiment of the present skate boot;

FIG. 9 depicts a top view of the bottom of the boot with inserts for placing thermal transfer plates through the bottom of the boot in accordance with one embodiment of the present skate boot;

FIG. 10 depicts a side view of insulation attached or affixed to the skate blade in accordance with one embodiment of the present skate boot;

FIG. 11 depicts a cross-sectional front view of a skate blade, thermal transfer plates, and insulation on the skate blade in accordance with one embodiment of the present skate boot;

FIG. 12 depicts a front view of a thermally conductive body suit in accordance with one embodiment of the present skate boot;

FIG. 13 depicts a top view of a warming mat in accordance with one embodiment of the present skate boot; and

FIG. 14 depicts a side view of the warming mat of FIG. 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

According to the present disclosure, an ice skate boot is provided with a blade that is heated using body heat from the skater. As depicted in FIG. 1, a skate boot 10 includes a boot upper body 12 having a sole 14, toe area 16, center area 18, heel area 20, laces 22 and other design features similar to existing skate boots. A blade holder 26 is mounted to the sole 14 of the boot 10.

As perhaps best depicted in FIGS. 4 and 5, rivets 46 on both lateral sides mount an upper circumferential flange 48 of the blade holder 26 to the sole 14. The blade holder 26 extends downwardly from the sole 14 of the skate boot 10. The blade holder 26 may be of metal or plastic and in various shapes. As depicted in FIGS. 1 and 3, two heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 also extend out of the bottom to the blade 40, one proximate the toe area 16 and the other proximate the heel area 20, and are connected to each other by a thermally conductive bridge 34. An ice-contacting skate blade 40 is affixed to the bottom of the blade holder 26. In one embodiment, the plate lower extensions are integrated into the blade holder. In another embodiment, the blade holder is of a thermally conductive material, and so the blade holder may act as a part of those extensions.

As depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7, in one embodiment, an insulating sheet 38 attached around the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 reduces heat loss on and around the heat plate lower extensions. The insulating sheet 38 extends down from the bottom of the boot 10 and abuts against the blade holder 26 near the blade 40 (see FIG. 11). Alternatively, insulation paint or insulation pads may be affixed to the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32.

As a result, the insulating sheet 38 or other insulation protects much of the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 from losing heat because of ice and water striking the heat plate lower extensions. This creates a thermal armor around the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 that passes heat to the blade 40, warming the blade to assist with skating. In certain embodiments, the skater may consider cooling the skater's foot, or even the entire skater's body, important as well. In such a case, the insulating sheet 38 would not be affixed to the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32. In those embodiments, the ice and cold water striking the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 provide even more cooling effect to the skater than use of the insulating sheet 38.

The heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 may also extend up into the body 12 of the boot 10. In one embodiment, see FIG. 5, upon entering the body of the boot 10, the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 flatten out into plates 50 and 52 that extend across the bottom of the boot 10. A copper plate 42, see FIGS. 5 and 6, extends over, and is in thermal contact with, the plates 50 and 52. In another embodiment, see FIG. 4, the upper section of the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 flatten and then turn upwards, thereby forming girdle wings 56 and 58 that extend across the bottom of the boot 10 and up with the boot upper body 12, thereby wrapping around the foot cavity of the boot 10 and constructing, in essence, a generally foot-shaped heat plate. By providing greater surface area inside the foot cavity of the boot 10, the girdle wings 56 and 58 or the plates 50 and 52 provide greater thermal conductivity from the foot to the blade 40.

The heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 as well as the plates 50 and 52 or girdle wings 56 and 58 are all made of a thermally conductive material, such as copper or another metal. Typically, the metal used is a malleable one, so that the proper shapes may be more easily formed. Thermally conductive plastics or other materials may also be used. By using thermally conductive material, body heat from the skater will pass down the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 to the blade 40, thereby slightly heating the blade and increasing the ability of the skater to melt the ice for better hydroplaning. Varying the thickness of the material forming the heat plate lower extensions, the plates, and the girdle wings, and varying the surface area formed by those elements, permits adjustment to the level of heat being transferred, though in some embodiments weight considerations may require the material to be relatively thin. This heat also keeps the blade 40 at a relatively constant temperature, rather than rapidly cooling as is typical of skate blade.

Often the skate boot 10 incorporates design features to control the level of heat passing to the blade 40. If too little heat is transferred, the temperature of the blade 40 does not rise enough to provide a significant benefit. If too much heat is transferred, the blade 40 might melt the ice so quickly as to leave the skater essentially standing in a tiny pool of water.

One way to control the level of heat is by controlling the heat that passes to the plates 50 and 52. As depicted in FIGS. 6 and 7, the boot 10 may have a boot insert 60 having orifices 62. The insert 60 is typically of a material that provides at least some insulation to the foot, meaning that heat from the foot does not pass down to the plates 50 and 52. Altering the material to control the thermal conductivity, such as by making the insert thicker or thinner or of a more or less thermally conductive material, provides control over the amount of heat passing to the plates 50 and 52. Also, altering the number and size of the orifices 62 and the thickness of the insert 60 changes the amount of heat transferred to the plates 50 and 52.

As depicted in FIG. 9, according to one embodiment, the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 may pass out of the boot 10 through a plurality of slits 66, thereby potentially providing additional heat transfer from the boot to the blade 40. Additional heat transfer plates may be run through the slits 66 to provide even more cooling. Other changes may be incorporated to adjust for shoe size and height of the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 (or 66), as well as other factors such as the thermal conductivity of the materials forming the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 and the blade 40. The amount of heat can also be controlled by passing portions of the plates 50 and 52 to the exterior surface of the boot 10. As a result, ice and cold water, as well as cold air, will contact those exterior portions, providing additional cooling to the plates and thus to the foot.

In one embodiment, see FIG. 8, the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 extend down from the bottom of the boot 10 and affix to the outer sides of the blade 40, thereby holding the blade in thermal communication with the skater's foot. In another embodiment, see FIG. 11, the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 extend down from the bottom of the boot 10 and are inserted into the interior of the blade 40, thereby holding the blade in thermal communication with the skater's foot. As depicted in FIGS. 10 and 11, insulation 72 may be applied to the blade 40.

Sometimes more heat is desired than can be provided by the thermal connection between the plates 50 and 52 or the girdle wings 56 and 58. As depicted in FIG. 1, the skater may wear a thermally conductive sock 80. Such a sock typically has thermally conductive material, such as fine threads 82 of copper, woven into the sock. The threads 82 connect to sock base plates 84 in the bottom of the sock, and those base plates are positioned to be in thermal communication with the plates 50 and 52. As a result, the effective area of thermal collection is greatly expanded, significantly increasing the amount of heat applied to the plates 50 and 52, and thus to the blade 40.

If even more heat is required at the blade 40, or more cooling of the skater is desired, the skater may wear a thermally conductive body suit 88, as depicted in FIG. 12. The body suit also has thermally conductive material woven therein, and that material is in thermal communication with the plates. As a result, the skater's entire body may be used to heat the blade 40. In all these embodiments, the plates 50 and 52, the girdle wings 56 and 58, the thermally conductive sock 80 and the thermally conductive body suit 88, heat passing through to the blade 40 takes that heat away from the skater, thereby cooling the skater. This cooling effect may increase stamina and comfort of the skater, permitting longer skating sessions at a high level of activity. Cooling the foot also reduces the level of perspiration coming from the foot, thereby resulting in less wear on the boot and less fungal growth on the foot and boot.

Heat passes down to the blade 40, slightly warms the blade, and the blade melts the ice more easily than if left cold. Thus, the blade 40 slightly bites into the ice, reducing the amount of snow coming from the ice (and leaving water in the groove and resulting in improved “healing” of the ice), allowing the skate to take hold when making sharper cuts and permitting cleaner and smoother straight paths with less effort. Because the sharper cuts are enabled by a slightly heated blade rather than brute force, the cusps 90 of the blade 40 do not deteriorate as quickly, and those cusps remain sharp longer, resulting in potentially significant savings of blade sharpening costs. Furthermore, this heating comes from a pre-existing source (the heat of the skater's foot), without the need for batteries or another external power supply, thereby reducing the weight of the skate boot 10.

Synthetic diamond has high heat conductivity. In another embodiment, a nearly microscopic layer of synthetic or polycrystalline diamond is deposited along the curvature between the cusps 90 of the blade 40 to assist in heat transfer. Depending on the nature of the deposition, the thin diamond surface may create a rougher surface on the blade edge. A rougher surface may provide slightly more friction on a microscopic level, increasing the heat and thus the hydroplaning of the blade, without significantly increasing the macroscopic friction that might otherwise slow the skater. Furthermore, the hard diamond would assist in maintaining the cusps of the blade. Should diamond production and deposition costs sufficiently fall, all of the heat conducting elements, from the blade 40 to the heat plate lower extensions 30 and 32 and the plates 50 and 52 or girdle wings 56 and 58, could be made of synthetic diamond or could have a coating of synthetic diamond, thereby significantly increasing the level of heat conducted from the foot.

Another problem with existing systems is that the blade 40 cools to an ambient temperature when the skater is resting off the ice. For instance, when playing hockey, skaters regularly rest sitting on the bench. While there, the blade 40 may cool to the temperature of the ice and water being left on the floor of the bench by skaters coming and going off the ice. As depicted in FIGS. 13 and 14, according to another embodiment particularly useful in the sport of hockey, a heating mat 94 is placed on the floor of the bench to keep the blades warm when players are on the bench.

The mat 94 has an electrical plug 96 that plugs into a standard electrical outlet. Electricity passing through the mat 94 heats the surface of the mat and thereby melts the ice, warms the water, and keeps the blades 40 warm. Channels 98 formed into the mat 94 permit cold water to flow away from the blades and reduce water build-up in the area. Use of an external power source such as wall electricity eliminates problems of replacing batteries. Thus, when the skater is ready to go back on the ice, the skater's blades 40 are already warm enough to assist in melting the ice for hydroplaning across the ice.

The ice skate boot disclosed heats the skate blade and thereby decreases the friction of the blade with the ice, using the skater's own body heat. No additional power supply, such as a battery, is needed. Thus, the present invention has several advantages over the prior art. Although embodiments of the present invention have been described, various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. An ice skate boot comprising:

a foot holding area having a sole, a toe, a heel, a left side and a right side;

a blade holder affixed to the sole of the boot, the blade holder having an upper portion, a lower portion, and a plurality of side surfaces, the lower portion being affixed to an ice-contacting blade;

a first body heat transfer plate mounted in the boot and passing down the right side of the boot, along the sole, through the sole, and in thermal communication with the blade;

a second body heat transfer plate mounted in the boot and passing down the left side of the boot, along the sole, through the sole, and in thermal communication with the blade; and

an insulating layer applied to a predetermined portion of the blade.

2. The ice skate of claim 1 further comprising an insulation layer formed on a predetermined portion of each of the heat transfer plates.

3. The ice skate of claim 1 further comprising a layer of diamond on a predetermined section of the ice-contacting surface of the blade.

4. The ice skate of claim 1 further comprising a sock having a thermally conductive material woven therein and at least one thermally conductive heat transfer plate formed into the sock and in thermal communication with the thermally conductive material and in thermal communication with the blade.

5. The ice skate of claim 1 further comprising a body suit having a thermally conductive material woven therein, the thermally conductive material being in thermal communication with the blade.

6. The ice skate of claim 1 further comprising a thermally conductive foot plate in the sole of the boot.

7. An ice skate boot comprising an upper that forms an interior foot cavity, a blade holder extending downwardly from a proximate end adjacent the upper to a distal end that holds a blade, and a thermally conductive body heat transfer plate in thermal communication with the interior foot cavity and extending downward to be in thermal communication with the blade.

8. The ice skate of claim 7 further comprising an insulation layer formed on a predetermined portion of the heat transfer plate.

9. The ice skate of claim 7 further comprising a layer of diamond on a predetermined section of the blade.

10. The ice skate of claim 7 further comprising a sock having a thermally conductive material woven therein and at least one thermally conductive heat transfer plate formed into the sock and in thermal communication with the thermally conductive material and in thermal communication with the blade.

11. The ice skate of claim 7 further comprising a body suit having a thermally conductive material woven therein, the thermally conductive material being in thermal communication with the blade.

12. The ice skate of claim 7 further comprising a thermally conductive foot plate mounted in the interior foot cavity and in thermal communication with the body heat transfer plate.